In his series, “Sudeten Impotence”, Philippe Dollo addresses the complex story of the Germans from Sudetenland, who represented close to 30% of the population of Bohemia in 1900. After three years spent photographing the region, which covers the geographical centre of Europe, the photographer tries to translate the tragic fate of these lands: the signing of the Beneš decrees in 1945 led to the expulsion of over 2.6 million ethnic Germans, and resulted in the death of 30,000. Dollo confronted the language and cultural impediments of these communities, whose arduous past few care to men- tion. Lyrical theatre tainted by the sordid, these images reveal the bitter beauty of the wild landscapes through still lives bathed in light and faded portraits. The waste of former generations is crystallized in the helplessness bequeathed to the lives of their heirs, resisting the atrocities of yesteryear.
